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2019-05-16

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Social Services: Training

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<p>The Government is working alongside stakeholders in the adult social care sector
to ensure there is the right number of people, with the right skills, knowledge and
values to meet increasing demand, and deliver high quality, person-centred care and
support.</p><p>The Department’s delivery partner, Skills for Care, monitors levels
of qualifications and training and works to improve standards and increase uptake
of training and qualifications for those working in adult social care. This includes
distributing £12 million a year through the Workforce Development Fund to support
employers fund training.</p><p>We know that there is more that we can do, and the
Government will publish a Social Care Green Paper at the earliest opportunity setting
out proposals for reform to ensure the social care system is sustainable for the future.
It will include a vision for the workforce, and proposals to boost recruitment, retention,
and workforce development in the longer term.</p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has
made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a national registration
and accreditation system for care workers.

<p>The Government has no plans to introduce a national registration and accreditation
system for care workers in England at this time.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed
to a proportionate system of safeguards for the professionals who work in the health
and care system. Statutory professional regulation should only be used in cases where
the risks to the public cannot be mitigated in other ways.</p><p> </p><p>Care workers
in England are subject to employer checks and controls including a Disclosure and
Barring Service check. And, since 2015, healthcare assistants and care support workers
have been expected to achieve the care certificate before working unsupervised. This
contains 15 standards setting out a common set of skills, knowledge and behaviours
that are needed in order to provide safe, high quality and compassionate care.</p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the cost
per social worker of assessment under the National Assessment and Accreditation Scheme
(a) including and (b) not including piloting and set-up costs.

<p>​For the period from July 2018 up to and including March 2020, the government has
allocated a maximum of £18.5 million (rounded) for funding phases 1 and 2 of the National
Assessment and Accreditation System (NAAS). This excludes piloting and set-up costs
incurred prior to July 2018.</p><p>This is broken down as follows;</p><ul><li>£4.2
million for the operation, continuous improvement and evaluation of NAAS in phase
1.</li><li>£7.42 million for the operation, continuous improvement and evaluation
of NAAS in phase 2.</li><li>£6.85 million grant funding for an additional 34 local
authorities to join phase 2.</li></ul><p> </p><p>The cost per social worker of assessment
under the NAAS varies according to the stage of development of the programme, the
throughput of social workers in each local authority and the cost and capacity of
a particular assessment venue. Therefore, at this stage we are not able to attribute
a cost per social worker. The programme is being developed in an agile manner and
through the first phases we have appointed an independent evaluator to collate financial
and benefits data, the evidence from which will inform the future rollout approach.</p><p>
</p><p>For national rollout of NAAS, delivery and cost modelling is currently underway
and the cost per social worker will depend on the delivery model(s) selected. It is
anticipated that a significant proportion of NAAS investment made during phase 1 and
phase 2 will support future delivery of NAAS on a national basis.</p>

<p>​For the period from July 2018 up to and including March 2020, the government has
allocated a maximum of £18.5 million (rounded) for funding phases 1 and 2 of the National
Assessment and Accreditation System (NAAS). This excludes piloting and set-up costs
incurred prior to July 2018.</p><p>This is broken down as follows;</p><ul><li>£4.2
million for the operation, continuous improvement and evaluation of NAAS in phase
1.</li><li>£7.42 million for the operation, continuous improvement and evaluation
of NAAS in phase 2.</li><li>£6.85 million grant funding for an additional 34 local
authorities to join phase 2.</li></ul><p> </p><p>The cost per social worker of assessment
under the NAAS varies according to the stage of development of the programme, the
throughput of social workers in each local authority and the cost and capacity of
a particular assessment venue. Therefore, at this stage we are not able to attribute
a cost per social worker. The programme is being developed in an agile manner and
through the first phases we have appointed an independent evaluator to collate financial
and benefits data, the evidence from which will inform the future rollout approach.</p><p>
</p><p>For national rollout of NAAS, delivery and cost modelling is currently underway
and the cost per social worker will depend on the delivery model(s) selected. It is
anticipated that a significant proportion of NAAS investment made during phase 1 and
phase 2 will support future delivery of NAAS on a national basis.</p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the funding allocated
to the consultation on the National Assessment and Accreditation System was spent
on (a) private sector consultants and (b) local authorities.

<p>In total the government has spent £8.7 million on the consultation, preparation
and the introduction of the National Assessment and Accreditation System (NAAS) for
child and family social workers.</p><p> </p><p>These costs can be further broken down
into £4.6 million in preparation costs, which includes money spent on the proof of
concept phase, the preparation of assessment materials and standard setting.</p><p>
</p><p>A further £4.1 million was spent up until June 2018 on the introduction of
assessments. Of this, £3.5 million has been in spent in grants made to local authorities
to support children’s services departments and individual social workers to prepare
for the assessment.</p><p> </p><p>The department has spent no funds on consultation.
The consultation and program development of the NAAS has been resourced directly by
the civil service who have engaged widely with both local authorities and individual
social workers.</p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on
the (a) consultation on (b) preparation for and (c) introduction of the National Assessment
and Accreditation Systems for social workers, social work supervisors and leaders.

<p>In total the government has spent £8.7 million on the consultation, preparation
and the introduction of the National Assessment and Accreditation System (NAAS) for
child and family social workers.</p><p> </p><p>These costs can be further broken down
into £4.6 million in preparation costs, which includes money spent on the proof of
concept phase, the preparation of assessment materials and standard setting.</p><p>
</p><p>A further £4.1 million was spent up until June 2018 on the introduction of
assessments. Of this, £3.5 million has been in spent in grants made to local authorities
to support children’s services departments and individual social workers to prepare
for the assessment.</p><p> </p><p>The department has spent no funds on consultation.
The consultation and program development of the NAAS has been resourced directly by
the civil service who have engaged widely with both local authorities and individual
social workers.</p>

<p>The Department continues to work with its delivery partner, Skills for Care, to
improve standards of training and qualifications of social care workers include increasing
the uptake of the Care Certificate and qualifications in social care.</p><p> </p><p>In
addition, the Department continues to monitor and analyse overall staffing levels
across social care and recognises the significant challenges in supporting and retaining
our social care workforce. We are working with Skills for Care, to understand trends
in retention and turnover rates of social care staff and will use this information
to develop policies to address any workforce gaps. The Government has committed to
publish an Adult Social Care Green Paper at the earliest opportunity setting out its
proposals for reform in this sector.</p><p> </p><p>Recruiting more people to work
in the sector is a priority for this Government and we are launching a national adult
social care recruitment campaign in early February. This will raise the profile of
the sector, build awareness of the rich variety of careers on offer, and attract the
right people, with the right values, to deliver the very best care. The campaign will
also support providers to improve their recruitment and retention practices.</p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has
had with the Secretary of State for Education on the number of people (a) applying
for and (b) taking up a place on the Step Up to Social Work programme; and if he will
make a statement.

<p>Responsibility for the Social Work profession is shared between the Department
of Health and Social Care who are responsible for social work with adults and Department
for Education who are responsible for social work with children and families. The
Departments share a common policy of increasing the quality of social workers through
education and continuing professional development, and maintaining sufficient numbers
of social workers.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretaries of State, Ministers and the Chief
Social Workers for England meet regularly to discuss and align policy on social work
and the departments have active programmes to ensure the effective recruitment, retention,
training and development of the social work profession.</p><p> </p><p>The Step up
to Social Work programme is fully funded by the Department of Education since 2010
and is specifically aimed at increasing the number of social workers who work with
children and families.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretaries of State of the Department of
Health and Social Care and the Department of Education have not met specifically to
discuss the Step up to Social Work programme.</p><p> </p><p>The Department of Education
have told us that four cohorts have now completed the programme with just over 1100
social workers finishing. Cohort 5 started in January 2018 and cohort 6 is planned
to start in 2020. For cohort 5, there were 4391 applications with 563 people starting.
The Department of Health and Social Care does not have any further details on the
number of applications.</p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care what assessment he has made
of the adequacy of the availability of work place training in the care sector; and
whether such training is within the remit of the Care Quality Commission.

<p>It is the responsibility of social care provider organisations to ensure their
employees are suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced. They are also
responsible for ensuring their employees receive appropriate support, training and
professional development, to enable them to carry out the duties they are employed
to perform.</p><p> </p><p>The role of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is not to
assess work place training within the care sector or if the correct training provision
is provided. The CQC’s remit is to understand whether or not the regulated provider
can demonstrate that they have adequate numbers of appropriately skilled, competent
and knowledgeable staff in place to meet the needs of those they provide a service
to.</p><p> </p><p>Where the CQC observes or has evidence that staff are not being
supported, trained or enabled to do their job safely or effectively, and determines
that this has an impact on the quality and safety of care people are experiencing,
it may take action.</p>

<p>The Department continues to spend significant levels of funding to train and develop
the adult social care workforce, including those aged between 16-25.</p><p> </p><p>In
2016/17, the Department will provide £23 million in funding to Skills for Care for
the training and development of the adult social care workforce including for 16-25
year olds. This includes £12 million for the Workforce Development Fund which provides
support to employers for modules and qualifications for their workers in adults’ services
in the private and voluntary sectors.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is working closely
with the sector skills council partner, Skills for Care, through programmes such as
apprenticeships in social care and Care Ambassadors which promote positive image of
the sector in schools and colleges.</p>